I spent much too long researching the tournament yesterday and figure they're likely to get in. Coach Todd Starkey also told me the same at the men's MAC finals Saturday.

First-round games would be Wednesday through Friday at campus sites. All WNIT games through the finals are played on teams' home floors.

Could Kent State host a game? Maybe, if it's willing to pay. It cost Toledo about $11,000 for a first-round game about five years ago (Rockets actually won the tournament that year.) That $11,000 is gross expenses. The Toledo Blade figured the school lost about $2,000 on its first-round game.

Toledo kept buying games that season and actually made money as the tournament went along and its crowds grew. But Toledo can draw more than 4,000 for a game. Biggest crowd at Kent State this season was about 1,000; average was about 550.

The WNIT schedules early games based on geography and a sort-of seeding system that ranks teams in high, low and middle tiers. But a big emphasis is to keep travel costs down.

I figured Kent State was toward the bottom of the middle tier.

My best guess on opponents would be Penn State, Virginia Tech and Drexel. I list another half dozen possibilities on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

It's about as tough a draw as Kent State could have received. Michigan was 22-9 and finished third in the Big Ten. The Wolverines likely lost an NCAA bid by losing in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament and dropping three of their last four-regular season games. All the losses were to pretty good teams.

Michigan's RPI is 46, about sixth highest in the WNIT field. Kent's is 96. The Flashes were crushed by Iowa and Minnesota, two teams Michigan beat at home, in a road trip just before Christmas. Kent State is a better team than it was then, but still...

Michigan finished third in the Big 10 only behind Maryland and Ohio St. Those two teams are good enough to earn the honor of being crushed by Connecticut sometime in the tournament. We must have been in the lower third to draw Michigan. It will be a good measurement on how much we have improved since December.

I've posted a pre-WNIT interview with underclass guards Alexa Golden, Megan Carter and Naddiyah Cross on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com. Full preview of the game, including interview with coach Todd Starkey, will go up later Wednesday.

The players talk about how the team has changed since it last played (and was badly beaten by) Big Ten teams in December, their relationship with the team's seniors and coaches, and the excitement of playing in the postseason. I interviewed them to talk to someone new; Lurken, Korinek and Stephens have been interviewed a million times.

There is also information on tickets ($7) and directions to the game. It's an easy three-hour drive. There's also a free fan bus (including tickets). Info for that is on the blog; you have to sign up by 2 p.m. Wednesday.

The game will be on radio; I can't figure out if it's on TV or being streamed. I'm started to doubt it but am checking everywhere I can.

It's got a look at Tuesday's practice, quotes from Kent State coach Todd Starkey and Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico, a comparison of the teams' lineups and statistics and an honest appraisal of Kent's changes (a very long shot).

Plus details of how to get to the game, watch it on TV, hear it on the radio or follow it online.